he same mind as Henry Prince of Wales, the
Right Hon. Thomas Grenville, or even King George III., we
should have been far worse off, as although several fine old bindings
exist in their libraries, many which would now be priceless have been
destroyed, only to be replaced by comparatively modern bindings,
sometimes the best of their kind, but often in bad taste.

_Division of Embroidered Books according to the designs upon them._

The designs on embroidered books may be roughly divided into four
classes--Heraldic, Figure, Floral, and Arabesque.

The Heraldic designs always denote ownership, and are most frequently
found on Royal books bound in velvet, rarely occurring on silk or satin,
and never, as far as I have been able to ascertain, on canvas. The
Figure designs may be subdivided into three smaller classes, viz.:--

I. Scriptural, _e.g._ representations of Solomon and the
Queen of Sheba, Jacob wrestling with the Angel, David, etc.

II. Symbolical, _e.g._ figures of Faith, Hope, Peace,
Plenty, etc.

III. Portraits, _e.g._ of Charles I., Queen
Henrietta Maria, Duke of Buckingham, etc.

The Scriptural designs are most generally found on canvas-bound books;
the Symbolical figures, and Portraits, on satin, rarely on velvet. The
Floral and Arabesque designs are most common on small and unimportant
works bound in satin, but they occur now and then on both canvas and
velvet books. The true arabesques have no animal or insect forms among
them, the prophet Mohammed having forbidden his followers to imitate any
living thing.

It may further be noted that heraldic designs on embroidered books are
early, having been made chiefly during the sixteenth century, and that
the figure, floral, and arabesque designs most usually belong to the
seventeenth century. There are, of course, exceptions to these
divisions, notably in the case of the earliest existing embroidered
book, which has figure designs on both sides, but also maintains its
heraldic position, inasmuch as its edges are decorated with
coats-of-arms.

Naturally, again, it may be sometimes difficult to decide whether a
design should be classed as heraldic or floral. Such a difficulty occurs
as to the large Bible at Oxford bound in red velvet for Queen Elizabeth,
and bearing a design of Tudor and York roses. I consider it heraldic,
but it might, with no less appropriateness, be called floral. If it had
belonged to any one not a member